Eureka, CA

I know we've said it before when we've talked about having some pretty amazing scenery in our drives, but this one was unlike any other. We took Hwy 101 from Bandon, OR to Eureka, CA. The front half of the trip was right up next to the ocean. Really special. There was something so refreshing about taking a break from driving along the mountains and driving along the coast.


There were a couple points where we would pause and take a few pictures, or slow down just a tad to get them as we went. We kept seeing these giant rocks shooting out of the water, but it never got old. The water was so close, I told Mark that I just wanted to touch it. There were little beaches all along the way and we decided we would stop at one of them and jump in, because who knew when we'd get the chance to do it again.

So we picked one of the next beaches and pulled off on the side of the road, went down the side of the hill and stepped on the sand. The glorious sand that's been touched by the salty lips of the ocean. There were a few other people on the beach and they were panning for gold. No joke, Gold Beach was the next beach along the drive, but they were searching the beach that we were at. I asked one of the guys if he would record us jumping into the ocean. That would have been a FAIL blog if we didn't get that on video.


I think he was amused by us, and as we gallivanted towards the water he yelled that it was 46 degrees, but we didn't hear him because we were already enticed by the ocean's waves and committed to throwing our bodies into them.

Cold. It was cold.

We came out shivering. Mark says he immediately regretted going completely under. I don't believe him. The memory was too special and absolutely necessary. It was worth it. We can now say we jumped into the ocean. I won't ever forget that moment.

We climbed up the hill back to our car and changed into some dry clothes for the rest of our drive.


Our fascination with bridges continued.


I can't get enough of these pictures, they're so perfect. But about halfway through the ride we took a little break from the ocean because the road started going a little inland. There are some giant red trees that I guess they wanted people to drive in the middle of.

I wish I had a picture of one of the Redwoods, but every picture I have is mostly blurry. We were going too fast to catch any of them in stillness. They aren't all so big that you can't wrap your arms around them, but there definitely were some.

When we got into town we found a hotel to stay at for the night and brought our stuff there and then headed downtown to Old Town Coffee & Chocolates.


We set up in the corner of the room, got a couple chai teas and played a couple hours for the kind folks of Eureka. We met a rather nice gentleman who tipped us very well as he left, I grabbed a CD and brought it outside to him and he told me "Bless your heart." It's those small things that stick with you.


The hotel we were staying at didn't have any double parking spots, so we unhooked the trailer and just chained it to the brick post. It was literally right next to our room so that made Mark more comfortable with that.

Our show was in the afternoon and it was our first night that we had free in four days, so we decided that we needed to enjoy it. I was feeling pretty tired and I was backed up on the vlogs and it seemed like there was so much to do and I didn't know how I'd get it all done. But we decided to just put that on hold and enjoy dinner. Mark wanted sushi and I was wanting some Italian and we hadn't seen a sunset yet, and lo and behold Eureka has a Japanese/Italian restaurant that is right on the ocean. Who would've thought? So we went to Bayfront. Mark's sushi was good, my pasta was mediocre at best, our waitress was terrible. But we went outside on the pier after dinner, because the table next to us said there were seals out there.


It was a great view. We didn't really catch the sunset, but it was just starting to get dark and the lighting is always really pretty. But it was really chilly so we didn't stick around long. We went to the grocery store to fill up our cooler with lunch supplies for the next few days and we picked up a couple drinks and went back to the hotel room to work.

While I was editing the Portland vlog, Mark edited the vlog from Bandon. I'm a bit of a control freak so it was hard to give up some of my responsibilities and ask for help, but it was necessary so that we didn't fall even more behind.

We started doing voiceovers to the vlogs, sort of like a director's commentary and we were pretty giggly so it made it even better. After the vlogs finished we got some sleep and it was time to go to our next destination.


Hwy 101 was taking us all the way to San Francisco.



Until next time,
Jordan

Bandon, OR

After our breakfast with friends in Portland we got packed and on the road heading towards Bandon, Oregon. For the first time, we were driving on the road that so many people had told us about. Hwy 101. It's the highway that runs down the coast, and we were told it would be a beautiful drive.

We saw a sign as we were driving along that said "Lookout Point." We weren't behind schedule, but we didn't have a ton of time to kill, because we wanted to set up our tent before going to the show. We drove past it and then quick turned around at the next intersection and went back to investigate. It was our first time seeing the ocean on the trip.


West Coast. We were finally along the coast. I had only seen the Pacific Ocean once before and that was down in San Diego. There it was white sand and palm trees. Here we saw so much green. The land was covered in trees and the ocean seemed to come right up to them.


Another couple was checking out the view while we were there, and as we stood gazing out at the scenery the guy came up to us asking if we'd like him to take our picture. We gladly accepted. Of course he offered so that the favor could be returned and that we could take a picture of them. I'd say it was a win-win.

No time to lollygag. We hopped in the car and headed to the RV park where we were camping that night. Together we put up the tent. And let me tell you, it went much MUCH faster with two people and doing it in the daylight. Once we were all ready at the campsite we headed back to our gig.


McFarlin's. It was a nice set up. The stage was on one wall, the bar on the left and a lot of seating on the right. Unloaded the car and got set up and had a few minutes to kill before starting.


As soon as we were set up and ready to go, I went outside. I had gotten a glimpse of ocean shortly before, but I knew I wanted to see more and I knew the water was close by...I could smell it. I walked up the street and came across this sight. It's one of my favorite pictures I've taken from the trip. Little did I know then how beautiful Bandon would turn out to be.


Mark made his way outside and met me on the pier. We took a couple moments to take in what was around us. And to our luck, a lady was walking by with her dog, so we asked her if she'd take a picture and then we headed back inside for the show.

A man came up to me right before we started and told me that he recognized me from the website and requested that we play Body & Bones. That was a nice way to start the night. It was a great one. Gosh, we really enjoyed ourselves that night. The dinner crowd was great and they seemed to enjoy the mello-er stuff that we so very much enjoy doing. The folks were really welcoming and there were quite a few that stayed from start to finish.

At one part of the night we talked about how we were camping and that we had a fire pit at our campsite and that we had thought about doing s'mores, but we weren't sure where to get the goodies and firewood. A couple from the crowd said the name of a grocery store but told us that it closed at 11, which was when we were playing until. Then they offered to go get us the supplies. The guy that requested Body & Bones went out and got everything and tipped us with the necessities for s'mores. As a thank you, we gave him a CD and got excited to go back and start a fire.

Thanks to Mark's optimism and a little Quick Mart being open past 11, we got something to light the fire and we were definitely in business to make s'mores that night. It was a great treat and Mark even showed me a cool fire trick. (It's in the video.)

It got pretty chilly that night. It was in the 40's, so we woke up pretty early and decided it was a good idea to get on the road so that we could enjoy the scenery along 101 and have time to stop a couple times. One of the owners from the RV Park was sitting outside as we packed up and suggested that we backtrack just a little bit and take the beach loop before heading out of town. She said the drive would be really scenic, so we decided to take her advice.

Well, the drive was hardly scenic. We had just driven through Bozeman and Coeur d'Alene and saw some of the most amazing sights. But this lady didn't know the beautiful things that we had recently seen.


She did, however, know this beautiful view that was at the end of the Beach Loop. Holy bagoly. It was stunning. Gorgeous. By far the most breathtaking sight that I've seen this trip. Everywhere I looked was beautiful.


These huge rocks just jetted out of the water. They didn't seem to belong, yet they were perfect for being there. Oh Bandon, your beach was incredible.


I made sure to get lots of pictures, and had to capture Mark vlogging in action. What a pro!


He took the camera and reached out to get this shot of us with the ocean in the background before we made our way to the car to continue our journey. But before we could leave Bandon we had to go to...


The Human Bean! Probably the smallest little coffeeshop you've seen! We didn't get a ton of sleep the night before and our next show was in the afternoon so there wasn't time for a nap. There was only time for coffee.

We were about to embark one of the most wonderful drives yet...



Until next time,
Jordan

Portland, OR

Oh man, I was so excited to be going to Portland. This was the first time in the trip that I was going to see a familiar face. We were staying with one of my best friend’s older sister, Andrea and her boyfriend Charlie. Mark loved Portland the moment he saw all of the cyclists on the road, and the bike lanes on pretty much every street dedicated to them.


As soon as we got there, Andrea took us to see this. The Brewcycle. It’s this giant bike that seats 15 people. You sit at the bar and pedal. They go on tours and go from pub to pub on this. It’s awesome. Andrea and Charlie just started up the business, and what better place to do it than in Portland! If you are out in Portland, or know someone who is, tell them to check out BrewcyclePortland.com. It’s definitely something worth experiencing.


That night we had a show just outside of Portland at Maher’s Pub in Lake Oswego. It was a cool place. They had outdoor seating in the front, the inside bar, and then a back patio with a kitchen and grill outside and a stage in the corner. We played out back and it was good, especially the last song. We ended with Leave the Light On, and it was just the perfect ending.


Mark loves when the places that we stay have animals. This is Murdoch. Andrea and Charlie’s cat. She’s a bit of a spaz, but they had a good time playing together.


We decided to go out for breakfast to start out the next day. Andrea found some place online and just as we got outside to start our walk we saw this sidewalk chalk drawing. As soon as Mark and I saw the “JoJo” we looked at each other and laughed, because he calls me that from time to time. I guess the chalk artist must’ve thought his name was Sher Bear.

Breakfast was fantastic! Andrea and Charlie both had these giant omelets and Mark and I each had homemade banana bread French toast. So good!

Then we each spent the afternoon doing what we needed to do. Andrea and Charlie doing Brewcycle stuff, Mark went for a long run around Portland, while I worked on editing the vlog.


This is the view from their apartment. It has this garden atmosphere and then fake grass and a fake fire hydrant for people to bring their dogs to. No joke. It’s a really pet-friendly apartment building.
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We had another show that night, this time in downtown Portland at a place called PINTS. It’s a coffeehouse by day and a taproom by night.


Cory, the bartender, hand picks each of the beers that they have on tap and it’s constantly changing. This is what they had on tap the night we were there. You should check one or two of them out.



As we were setting up, we were totally surprised to see a familiar face that we weren’t expecting to see. This is Emily. She used to live in Madison, but recently moved out to Portland for work. A mutual friend of ours had told us before we left, but we forgot that tidbit of information along the way. So when Emily came through the door, we were really glad to see her.


We were also surprised by these two, David and Grace. They had seen us out at Maher’s Pub the night before and we let them know that we would be playing in Portland the next night, and they said they wanted to come down. We were taken by surprise when they came down the next night. It was awesome. Really encouraging that they enjoyed it so much that they came out for a second night. Very cool.

Mark and I had a pretty interesting experience that night. We had the guitar case set up in front of us as a tip jar. We typically throw in a $1 and a $5 to start off the case. This lady came in from out on the streets when we were doing our medley. She said she heard us from blocks down and loved it. She danced around a bit, gave us hugs, and told us that we should have went on American Idol.

She stuck around for a couple songs. Mark was doing one by himself while I was sitting at the bar. I noticed her hanging by the guitar case. She was putting some coins in, but I noticed her grab a bill out of the case. No one else caught it. She came over by the bar and talked with my friends and I for a little bit, and I asked her what she took out of the case. She told me that she just made change. I didn’t trust her, but before I could do anything else Mark called me back up to sing the next song with him. I glanced at the case as I sat down, and sure enough the $1 bill was still in the case, but the $5 bill that we had put in was gone.

I sang the song with Mark, but I was completely distracted. As soon as we finished she gave us more accolades and then walked out. I couldn’t just sit and not do anything. I jumped up out of my seat, Mark asked what I was doing and I followed her outside a few feet. We were about 20 feet from the bar when I caught up with her and confronted her. I told her I knew she took $5 out of our case, that this was what we did to make a living. I wanted to give her another chance to be real and ‘fess up. She just couldn’t do it. She said that she took one dollar out to make change and handed me the dollar and quick walked away.

Man, it really messed with my mind the rest of the night. I’ve seen homelessness, poverty, and I bet she is living a pretty tough life. I can understand why she would steal from us, but it doesn’t make it right. And it makes it worse that she had two opportunities to rectify her actions.

Five dollars isn’t going to kill us. But was that whole situation worth five dollars? She knows that we know what she did. I would have been really angry at myself if I hadn’t said anything and just sat by. I can’t help but wonder if she went off and was angry with herself for doing what she did and denying it, or if that didn’t phase her at all. I don’t know. Won’t know. But the scenario affected me. I know the story was lengthy, but I needed to write out my thoughts about it. Hope you don’t mind.



The next morning we decided to get breakfast again before hitting the road. We called up Emily and had her meet us, and the five of us all had a nice breakfast together.


I ordered the short stack of blueberry pancakes. The pancake was as big as the plate. It was huge. I could only eat one. It was great having some time to hang out with friends before leaving for the ocean.

Portland, you were good to us. Friends, you were even better to us. I wasn’t quite ready to leave, but that’s how the story goes.



Until next time,
Jordan

Tacoma, WA

The drive from Coeur d’Alene was another one of those scenic adventures. It wasn’t the big tall mountains that we saw the day before, but we did feel like we had gone back in time to when dinosaurs walked the earth.


This was unlike anything we had seen on our journey before. Like we were in Jurassic Park. We saw this as we were crossing the Columbia River. It’s definitely one of the most memorable scenes of the trip thus far.


We came across a windmill farm on the West bank of the Columbia River. They are always so neat, because you can spot them in the distance, because they’re a big cluster.


Mark and I had seen white caps back in Montana, but then all of a sudden we saw this snow-covered mountain in the distance. Mount Rainier. It was so much taller than the mountains around it. We were excited to be driving towards it, until we found out it was a dormant volcano (serious, that's why it's there... by itself).


When we got into the Tacoma area, we went straight to Mark’s uncle and aunt’s house, where we would be staying for the next two nights. Meet Carl and Kaz.


Carl. He's retired, and now works for 3 hours for 4 days during the week doing maintenance repairs at a independent living apartment. He likes watching the History channel and has a lot of stories to share from his time in the Army.


Kaz. This picture was taken in her home shop, where she cuts hair. She said she's going to cut hair until the day she dies, and she has a witty sense of humor. What a treat to be able to spend time with them.

It was so neat, because it had been so long since Mark has seen them. Years. 10? 15? Somewhere in there. Regardless, it had been a long time. So it was really cool that we were able to come this way and spend some time with them.


The first night we were in town, we had off, so we were able to hang out and we had dinner out in the gazebo. Lucky, the dog, joined us.

I spent the rest of the night editing video and working on the blog, while Mark watched the Seattle Mariners baseball game with his aunt and uncle. Kaz is big into the Mariners. She even keeps track of their wins on the calendar on the refrigerator.

The next morning, Mark got up early and cooked them breakfast and then we went on a journey to the different bicycle shops in Tacoma to see if anyone could fix Mark’s spoke. We searched to no avail. However, we did replace one of the water bottles that we left behind at a gig, with one from Tacoma Bike.

We stopped at a park for an hour to practice, and Mark ended up writing the beginning of a new song. A tour song. Inspired by the different places we have gone so far. It’s cool, you know? Cool to see how the things that have been surrounding us lately can directly inspire a person. Hopefully more of the song will come throughout the tour and then I can get some footage of it to include in the vlog.

After our time in the park, we went to lunch with Carl and Kaz at a super china buffet. Mark took a little cat nap in the car on the way home, and then we showered and got ready for the show.


Our show was at The Mandolin Café. A really neat place. Funky decorations. Mandolins up on the wall. A sound guy. Good food and drinks. A place that you should definitely go to hang out at if you are around Tacoma. And if you are a musician that ever plans to go through Tacoma, this is the place to go.


If you walk one block up from Mandolin Café, you will go up a little hill and have this view in the distance. Mount Rainier. Bigger and better than where we saw it on the highway. It caught me off guard. I went for a little walk before the show and as I headed back, there it was staring back at me.

The show was a good time. Carl and Kaz came out, and Mark’s cousin Ron came down. It had been years since they have seen each other, too. They didn’t even recognize each other. They had never seen Mark perform before, so it was cool that it worked out to have a show in Tacoma so they could see what he’s been doing as a musician.

Mark had a couple other friends come out to this show. A guy he knows from Racine, Joey, came out with his girlfriend and one of their friends. We got to see Joey earlier in the day and he gave us a tour of University of Pudget Sound, where he's going to school. And then Mark’s friend from Chicago, Julie, came and brought a few friends. I know it was exciting for him to see some familiar faces.


The next morning Mark cooked breakfast again for everyone, we said our goodbyes, and got some pictures and footage before heading out on the road again.

Tacoma treated us well, but I’m excited to be going to Portland and seeing a familiar face. Portland’s bound to have a bunch of stories.



Until next time,
Jordan

Coeur d'Alene, ID

Coeur d’Alene. We had only heard good things about the area, so we were looking forward to the drive. Saying it was absolutely gorgeous doesn’t seem to cover how awestruck we were.


This was my favorite area. No editing was done to this picture. Blue, blue sky. Green trees. Even the shadow of the cloud. I loved the color. It was so vibrant.


I think this area was Mark’s favorite. The picture does not do it justice. It’s a screen shot from the video footage we have. We’ve never seen mountains so tall. And full of trees. Completely full of trees. It took our breath away.

We were headed for a hotel just past Coeur d’Alene, in a city in Washington called Liberty Lake. It was the first time we were in a hotel on the trip, and I think it will be the only time. We weren’t going to stay in the hotel room the whole time and miss the city, especially on the fourth of July.


So we headed to Lake Coeur d’Alene for the fireworks on the beach. It was packed down there. There were party boats out on the lake and people looking to have a good time.


We killed time on the beach waiting for the fireworks to start by playing Angry Birds and ukelele. The fireworks were awesome. It was a hoot. Especially the grand finale. I’ve never seen a grand finale so grand. One on top of another. It just kept going. I was giddy. So glad we had a night out. I’d say it was a pretty fantastic fourth of July.

But I’ll end my story there.
Mark wants to share about the next morning…his bike ride.



Until next time,
Jordan





Well, the plan was to bike 5-10% of the miles that we are putting on the car (5,500+ car miles = 225 to 550 bike miles). Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but at least I was able to get out for the first time on Tuesday, the day after Independence Day. I’m a much earlier riser than Jordan, so the plan was to do a 30-40 mile ride in the AM.



I headed out of the motel with my bike and GPS. The darn GPS took several minutes to load , so I started biking without my route. Unfortunately, I started the wrong way, so I added about 5 miles to the ride before even starting the planned route.


It turned out to be a great ride. Ten miles to Lake Newman. Approximately fifteen miles around the lake. Then, ten miles back. Some steep hills. A lot of beautiful scenery. Turkeys. Deer. Horses. Farmland. The lake. Mountains in the distance. Beautiful.

The big, BIG negative was that I broke a spoke at the beginning of the ride. I rode it anyway, but I won’t ride again until it gets fixed, which will be in Los Angeles. I ordered the replacement spoke via a bike shop there.

So, I’ll be running this next week. I won’t be able to see as much, but I’m happy that I’ve got my running shoes with me.



Until next time.
Mark

Bozeman, MT

Got on the road in the morning headed to Bozeman, Montana. This was our first night of the tour that we didn’t have a show lined up. Instead, it was a big driving day. 8 hours.


The scenery is ever-changing for us. This is what a lot of today was. Green grass. Green trees. Lots of rock.


We pulled off the interstate so that we could do a driver change, and the exit we picked just so happened to have a dinosaur museum. We had to pull in and quick snap a picture because it reminded us of Mark’s nephew Caden and niece Adilyn.


I got to drive because Mark needed to get a little more rest. That meant I got to pick the music and I had a great time singing along. And this was my co-pilot. What a funny sight.


We switched back when we got to Billings, and shortly after we got our first glimpse of this. White caps. Mountains in the distance. Snow. We were seeing snow in July. It was so neat. I can’t tell you how much footage we got on the Flip camera, because we were just in awe.

A friend of Mark’s used to live in Bozeman, so she gave us a couple numbers of people to contact about a place to crash for the night. We called her friend Nikki to see if we could use some floor space. She was in the middle of moving but was more than okay with us coming for the night.

Not only that, but when we got to her house, Nikki and a few of her friends were on the porch grilling out for dinner. They made delicious pork tenderloin, potatoes, and corn on the cob, and introduced us to John Dailys. It’s an Arnold Palmer (iced tea & lemonade) mixed with vodka. Great after a long, hot day in the car.


After dinner we started playing whiffeball in the backyard. Paul and Kevin did most of the pitching and Aaron, Mark, and I rotated in the outfield. Until Nikki got up to bat. She cranked it and the ball went flying into the tree and it got stuck. None of us could tell where it was. Paul started climbing the tree to find it. And then we finally saw it, and Paul was in the completely wrong tree to try and get it out. We were all laughing pretty hard.

Mark and I went to a little coffeeshop up the block so that I could finish editing and uploading the vlog. It was taking so long, that we even hung out on their patio after they closed to make sure it went through.


Then we went back to the house and Paul and Aaron had left, but Mike and Alyssa had joined the party. Mark and I did a couple songs for them and we just hung out on the back porch chatting and laughing about what state Bozeman is in. What a fun bunch. Gosh, we wished that we could have stayed longer to hang out with everyone. It was so relaxed and comfortable.


Mark knows how much I love stars, and he’s a pretty big fan, too. So we asked everyone where a good place was to check out the stars. They told us to head up to Peet’s Hill. We drove to where we thought the trailhead was, ended up walking out of our way, but eventually hiked up to the top of this hill and took a little time to gaze up at the stars.

In the morning, we took Nikki and Mike out to breakfast as a thank you for dinner the night before and for letting us crash there. And before we headed out of town, Mark took me up to a different part of Peet’s Hill from where we were the night before.


He got up early and went for a run on this path and came upon this great lookout where you had such a view of the city of Bozeman and the mountains surrounding it. It was a cool sight to see. Too bad we only got to stay in Bozeman for one night.




Until next time,
Jordan